Yaya Toure - The man Manchester City can’t do without

City baulk at the suggestion that any of their players are indispensable. The roll of time and tide tells us that the word actually means nothing in football, as players come and go, their powers peak and decline, and the club goes on.

City baulk at the suggestion that any of their players are indispensable. The roll of time and tide tells us that the word actually means nothing in football, as players come and go, their powers peak and decline, and the club goes on.

When it came down to it, even Blue greats like Bert Trautmann, Colin Bell and Georgi Kinkladze were not indispensable. But there is one man in the current team who comes as close to that definition as anyone, perhaps anyone in City’s history.

He is the midfield driving force, the man who has done more than most to transform City from nouveau riche hopefuls into Premier League powerhouses, Yaya Toure.

Although the second-leg of their play-off game with Senegal was abandoned on Saturday because of crowd trouble, the Ivory Coast look certain to be handed a place in the African Cup of Nations finals considering they were 6-2 up on aggregate with just 18 minutes of the tie left.

It means Yaya will be away for up to six weeks of City’s season.

Ivory Coast will again be among the favourites to reach the final of the tournament, being held in South Africa, just to maximise the pain for the Blues.

The tournament is normally held every two years, but to synchronise with Fifa’s international calendar, they switched the scheduled 2014 event to a year earlier.

Last season, Yaya’s absence while he was at the tournament coincided with one of City’s rockiest patches of the season, as they lost to United in the FA Cup, were beaten by Liverpool in the Carling Cup semi-finals, slipped up at Everton in the league, and managed unconvincing victories against Wigan, Spurs and Aston Villa.

It was no statistical coincidence that when the Blues faced three important games in a week this season – away to Fulham and at home to Borussia Dortmund and Sunderland – the only outfield players who started in all of them were Yaya, David Silva and Pablo Zabaleta, and the latter only played because injuries bit into the defensive resources.

Vincent Kompany would have been another to take to the field, but he was forced out of the Sunderland game by a calf injury.

In an age when rotation is the buzz word, and managers constantly talk about it being impossible for players to play in every game, Yaya bucks the trend.

Last season, he was ever-present in the first half of the season, starting in every game apart from the three Carling Cup ties, when he was left in the stands.

Indeed, the only time he was given any rest at all last season was when the team was in a comfortable lead and more than an hour had been played.

He was substituted when City were leading against Wigan (3-0), Aston Villa (3-1), Villarreal (3-0), Newcastle (3-0), Bayern Munich (2-0), Arsenal (1-0, for the last five minutes), Blackburn (3-0), Arsenal (0-0, injured) and QPR (1-0, injured).

In his only appearance as a substitute, at Norwich, he turned a nervous 2-1 lead into a 6-1 rout, and was a Goliath at the nerve-shredding climax to the season, not least as the man who conjured up two goals at Newcastle which set up the drama of the final day.

Of course, he was injured against QPR in that last game and forced off at half-time. Whether Blues fans would have suffered the agonies of going behind before the bliss of Sergio Aguero’s winner had Yaya remained on the field, is a matter for conjecture. Gareth Barry happy to be unsung Etihad hero

He is the only City player to have played every minute of the Community Shield game, and all Premier League and Champions League fixtures.

Coach David Platt almost winced at the idea that Yaya is indispensable.

He was in Roberto Mancini’s camp in believing that the Blues needed serious reinforcement during the summer to ensure Yaya could go off to the Africa Cup of Nations in January, and be barely missed.

That was why they were so keen on bringing in Daniele de Rossi from Roma, a transfer which foundered when the player expressed his heart-felt desire to remain with his home-town club.

News coming out of the Eternal City that de Rossi’s relations with manager Zdenek Zeman look less than eternal after the Italy international was dropped might re-awaken City’s interest in the January transfer window.

In the end, City brought in Javi Garcia and Jack Rodwell, but neither is a straight replacement for Yaya.

Garcia looks defensively sound but has little of the attacking thrust of the ex-Barcelona star, while Rodwell has more than a few rough edges to knock off his game.

Asked if Yaya, and Silva, simply could not be left out, Platt said: “They’re not indispensable, we have to look at things.

“We want to get to a point where nobody is indispensable. What we know with Yaya, he can give us so much balance, so much control of the game – a lot goes through him.

“With David, when you think you are coming up against a tight defence, he can open things up with his ability.

“We address every game as it comes, with one eye on what the players have done and what the players are going to have to do in the next game.

“We picked a team for Borussia Dortmund but the manager already had one eye on Sunderland.

“A lot is made of people missing games but we don't just pick a team for one particular game.”

Team selection in the new year will get interesting. Yaya – plus his brother Kolo and youngster Abdul Razak – are set to say their farewells after the New Year’s Day meeting with Stoke, and are likely to miss the first two rounds of the FA Cup, plus games at Arsenal, QPR and Southampton and home clashes with Fulham and Liverpool.

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